Tycoon seeks funding to revive NY Cosmos

Paul Kemsley, the failed property tycoon and former sidekick to Lord Sugar on The
Apprentice, is planning to revive the New York Cosmos, the football team
made famous in the late-1970s by stars such as Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer.

Pele in his days of playing for the New York Cosmos

By Graham Ruddick

10:25PM BST 11 Jul 2010

Mr Kemsley has been out of the public eye in the UK since his property empire collapsed last year, leaving Lloyds Banking Group facing losses of £450m. He has moved to New York to oversee an audacious attempt to revive the Cosmos.

The tycoon is understood to be aiming to launch in December with training camps for youngsters, an all-star travelling side and then a competitive team.

Mr Kemsley, an associate of Mike Ashley and a former vice-chairman of Tottenham Hotspur football club, is thought to be working with investment bank Inner Circle, which specialises in the sports industry, for funding of the project.

The Cosmos collapsed in 1984 after the departure of their famous players and the declining popularity of the North American Soccer League.

The club was formed by Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun, and Warner Brothers president Steve Ross. The Cosmos all-star team attracted unprecedented football crowds in the US, including the largest ever when Pelé retired in 1977.

Mr Kemsley is thought to have acquired the name and image rights to the Cosmos from Peppe Pinton, the former general manager of the club.

"We are going to launch in, probably, December," Mr Kemsley told the Wall Street Journal. He said the revival would include merchandise, "grass-roots soccer camps for youth", an "inspirational travelling team", and a "fully competitive side".

Mr Kemsley's Rock property empire, which included the former headquarters of Burberry in Central London and Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park football ground, fell into administration last June. HBOS, which is now owned by Lloyds, lent money and took an equity stake in a joint venture to expand Mr Kemsley's empire in 2007.

Before the collapse of his property empire, Mr Kemsley helped Lord Sugar interview candidates at the semi-final stage of The Apprentice television show.

In a lawsuit filed last week in the UK, two former partners of Mr Kemsley alleged that Lloyds Banking Group "coerced" the entrepreneur into transferring control of his property empire to the bank by releasing him from a $35m (£23.1m) personal loan.